I am trying to teach myself how to make this kind of leg for a coffee table.I am just going of a picture I seen online. I have no books, video, website or mentor to help me. I have gotten close a few times but it seems to never line up right. I assume the leg is 2 pieces that are cut curved and the straight side is cut a 45 degrees to make a complete square from 2 pieces. I suspect each piece has to be the same width as it is thick so it is a square. I think i have most of the basics figured out but could use some information incase I am missing something. Are there any websites or videos that would help me learn this?

So far these are my failed attempts during practice learning. The first one is a piece of scrap that I first cut the angle on the wrong side and then it broke at a crack. the second one is of some 4/4 maple which is where I started to learn a little more, but it wasn’t thick enough to form a square. The third i got the sid the angle figured out but my free hand template for practice didn’t make it a square this it wasn’t cut at the same width as the thickness.

The quest goes on, I get closer and closer each try! So far my spirits are high because I keep learning with each one and am motivated.

8 replies so far

Looks like two squares cut at 45 degree where they meet. So, lets say they where 4×4’s. The sides that meet were cut first and the “tops” were cut into 2×2’s with probably a bandsaw??.. Something like that… You are doing a grate job teaching yourself.

Maybe it is made from a 2×4. Try cutting the miter first, measure and mark as if it were 2×2.to get the square leg. Then band saw the curves using a templeta. Maybe you can work the curve with a spoke shave , or you may have to use just a scraper.

Just guessing here. . I see this from a slightly different perspective.

Cut 2 flat pieces from 8/4 stock to match the desired profile for the 8 legs (yes 8, 2 for each corner). , miter the mating edge each pair from the V down to the bottom at 45 degrees then glue them together. This way the glue joint would only be visible from the underside of the table and you may get a better chance of 4 matching corners.

Something like this. . (sorry I might be a computer geek but I’m terrible with CAD).

-- There's two routers in my vocab, one that moves data and one that removes wood, the latter being more relevant on this forum.

That is pretty much the steps I take. Here is how I do it. I may of left something out but I think this sums it up.

I messed up on the angled cut on the top right picture. Leg (A) should be cut 45 degrees from top right to bottom left saving the upper half of the cut. Leg (B) should be cut 45 degrees from top right to bottom saving the bottom half. I think that is corrected now. If you cut it wrong like I have it drawn it will just form a Y and they will not be 90 degrees opposite of each other.

Hmm kinda small and hard to read, not sure how to enlarge it. If you hold ctrl and press the + button on your keyboard you can zoom in. It will help a little.

The thickness should be the same as the width of the leg when looking at it from the side.I would think that 2” would look too bulky, and something like 1-1/4 or 1-1/2 would look better.It’s really pretty simple. Just cut out the leg shape, and then cut the miter on the straight portion.